Bobby Dodd Renovation in the NE Stands

[Oakland]

While stuck in traffic today on I-75/85, I looked over at the GSU stadium. They need to pressure wash the brick and either replace or repair the sign that reads Center Parc Stadium.

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[AUFC]

Btw, there’s a pool under that side. I used to swim there …

I swear to God I (beer-induced) peed multiple times in a former classroom at Folsom Field last season. They have the classic double-sided wall urinal situation (Lane Stadium has this as well) and some guy diagonal from me negatively called out my Georgia Tech hat because of our shared 1990 national championship. I put him in his place very quickly.

Notre Dame Stadium has the worst bathroom situation in my experience. You don't realize how much you miss the highly efficient trough system until you miss half the 3rd quarter due to this urinal nonsense.

College football is so awesome. Some stadiums are the oldest currently standing architecture you can experience in the US - a day/evening in Bobby Dodd is always such a treat.

 

[stinger78]

Speaking of the Ted...does anyone know how Georgia State has funded their facility modifications and upgrades? The Knight database lists their debt as zero. Have they snagged some state funding? Just wondering how they've managed it.

Edit to add: Georgia State's student fee income is triple ours.

GA State’s enrollment is triple ours.

 

[apatriot1776]

Thanks for sharing this. So their AA was a) practically gifted a relatively modern stadium by the city ($30M doesn't come close to its value or construction costs), and b) somehow got the school and private equity to pay for renovations and surrounding new infrastructure. I thought the BoR prohibited GT and other state schools (the school) from paying more than a relatively small portion, I think 10%, of the athletic association's expenses. There was some creative financing involved here.

Some of that is luck given that Atlanta already owned an empty stadium and likely would have taken a bigger financial hit to just tear the thing down. Also that the development included a ton of empty parking lot which, could be creatively argued, was acquiring land for future educational space.

 

[gte447f]

While stuck in traffic today on I-75/85, I looked over at the GSU stadium. They need to pressure wash the brick and either replace or repair the sign that reads Center Parc Stadium.

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Agree. It (especially the sign) looks pretty bad.

 

[Ramble1885]

Agree. It (especially the sign) looks pretty bad.

interior is fine but yeah they need to pressure wash that facade ASAP.

 

[Gold1]

Hopefully the entire Upper North (as it will be turned into a terraced standing zone.

Hell no

 

[roadkill]

GA State’s enrollment is triple ours.

The main campus undergrad enrollments are in the same ballpark, although GSU's is about double GT's if you include Perimeter College. Turns out the AA revenue difference is mostly due to the amount of the individual student fee. GSU's quarterly athletic fee is $275, while GT's is $127. This could be an opportunity for GT to help close the gap.

 

[RonJohn]

The main campus undergrad enrollments are in the same ballpark, although GSU's is about double GT's if you include Perimeter College. Turns out the AA revenue difference is mostly due to the amount of the individual student fee. GSU's quarterly athletic fee is $275, while GT's is $127. This could be an opportunity for GT to help close the gap.

The Georgia BOR restricts P4(5) teams to student/school funding of athletics to 10%. GT is always right around 10%. GT can't raise more money from student fees unless the BOR policy changes.

Georgia State is a G5 school. The policy allows them to get up to 65% of their funding from student/school funding. Student fees currently provide 54% of their funding. If I remember correctly, the BOR reduced the percentages when State and KSU started their football programs. They did that because students were complaining very loudly about being charged to provide entertainment to middle aged men who were not current students at the college. I think that is a valid point, even for GT. We fans should be providing more of the money instead of asking for current students to fund our entertainment.

GT got about $55 million in media money in fiscal 2023. Georgia State got about $3.5 million.

 

[roadkill]

The Georgia BOR restricts P4(5) teams to student/school funding of athletics to 10%. GT is always right around 10%. GT can't raise more money from student fees unless the BOR policy changes.

Georgia State is a G5 school. The policy allows them to get up to 65% of their funding from student/school funding. Student fees currently provide 54% of their funding. If I remember correctly, the BOR reduced the percentages when State and KSU started their football programs. They did that because students were complaining very loudly about being charged to provide entertainment to middle aged men who were not current students at the college. I think that is a valid point, even for GT. We fans should be providing more of the money instead of asking for current students to fund our entertainment.

GT got about $55 million in media money in fiscal 2023. Georgia State got about $3.5 million.

Thanks, that explains a lot.

I don't think that GT's current fee is all that much relative to the total cost of attendance. Also, most of our students live on campus and can easily access multiple events (many free of charge). In contrast, many GSU students are commuters, so their pushback over the high fees is understandable. Regardless, if we are at or close to the 10% limit, there's not much opportunity there.

 

[Gold1]

I want individual seats/seatbacks stadium-wide, that would be amazing. Also turn the south endzone seats into a standing area with a beer-garden, maybe a spot for a couple food-trucks that change every game…

so you essentially don't care about the actual game? These are such sad times as a sports fan. Get to the stadium and cheer on the white and gold. People that ask for all this stuff are so STRANGE

 

[AUFC]

so you essentially don't care about the actual game? These are such sad times as a sports fan. Get to the stadium and cheer on the white and gold. People that ask for all this stuff are so STRANGE

A Georgia Tech grad should be intelligent enough to understand that asking for seatbacks, a beer garden, and food trucks has zero correlation as to whether someone cares about the game or not. This comes across like the type of comment former AD Todd Stansbury would make.

Most of us just want people to visit the stadium again. Not every member of our fanbase is a GTSwarm superfan and we need to make Bobby Dodd an attractive place for those folks to come.

 

[MWBATL]

The stadium sucks.

It’s all a matter of personal tastes. If GT moved all their home games to Mercedes Benz, I’d cancel my season tickets. I hate that stadium. Seats and sight lines are horrible there compared to BDS.

 

[Vespidae]

It’s all a matter of personal tastes. If GT moved all their home games to Mercedes Benz, I’d cancel my season tickets. I hate that stadium. Seats and sight lines are horrible there compared to BDS.

It is and it isn’t. There are all sorts of studies about what fans want and how that has evolved. Basketball arenas for example, are decreasing in size, because the fan experience is currently better in a small arena … hence, the new trend is smaller, more fan friendly arenas. A number of new football stadia are doing the same … a better experience for a roughly 40,000 seat crowd.

It’s the opposite in baseball. There’s so much demand for seats at some schools, entirely new fields are being considered. Tennessee, Ole Miss and others are sold out … so, new suites, clubs, etc are underway. Some fans don’t like it, but you can’t deny the attendance and spend levels.

BDS was, in 1960, the largest and among the most modern in the South. It’s interesting to me how many people don‘t want to touch it despite evolving fan tastes and how that affects attendance. I do love it but it does need significant upgrades.

Tech needs money and you generate cash by selling suites. BDS doesn’t have enough and those they do have need upgrading. It probably needs improvement in technology (which is kinda funny for a technical school), it could probably use permanent stadium seating, fast pay apps at concessions, etc. I’m sure Batt has the same studies.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping current with what fans want. Otherwise, you end up with a museum piece. You can do both.

 

[MWBATL]

It is and it isn’t. There are all sorts of studies about what fans want and how that has evolved. Basketball arenas for example, are decreasing in size, because the fan experience is currently better in a small arena … hence, the new trend is smaller, more fan friendly arenas. A number of new football stadia are doing the same … a better experience for a roughly 40,000 seat crowd.

It’s the opposite in baseball. There’s so much demand for seats at some schools, entirely new fields are being considered. Tennessee, Ole Miss and others are sold out … so, new suites, clubs, etc are underway. Some fans don’t like it, but you can’t deny the attendance and spend levels.

BDS was, in 1960, the largest and among the most modern in the South. It’s interesting to me how many people don‘t want to touch it despite evolving fan tastes and how that affects attendance. I do love it but it does need significant upgrades.

Tech needs money and you generate cash by selling suites. BDS doesn’t have enough and those they do have need upgrading. It probably needs improvement in technology (which is kinda funny for a technical school), it could probably use permanent stadium seating, fast pay apps at concessions, etc. I’m sure Batt has the same studies.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping current with what fans want. Otherwise, you end up with a museum piece. You can do both.

I don't disagree. If you keep the seating closeness to the field and ease of seeing the game, then have at it with concession areas, suites etc. BUT so many of the "NEW" stadia have such poor sightlines and acoustics that they are much worse experiences than staying at home imho.

So you can do both, but you can also make improvements which aren't improvements everyone likes.

 

[Vespidae]

I don't disagree. If you keep the seating closeness to the field and ease of seeing the game, then have at it with concession areas, suites etc. BUT so many of the "NEW" stadia have such poor sightlines and acoustics that they are much worse experiences than staying at home imho.

So you can do both, but you can also make improvements which aren't improvements everyone likes.

One would hope that a school that teaches architecture, engineering and construction could get it right.

 

[RonJohn]

One would hope that a school that teaches architecture, engineering and construction could get it right.

One would hope that a school that teaches physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, and has classes on audio engineering could have a good sound and PA system. However, that has been an issue for many years now.

 

[bobongo]

It’s all a matter of personal tastes. If GT moved all their home games to Mercedes Benz, I’d cancel my season tickets. I hate that stadium. Seats and sight lines are horrible there compared to BDS.

Speaking strictly for myself, I've always been down with BDS. Sight lines are good everywhere, and the upper east can't be beat.
All I want is a good spot to watch the game, a place to take a whiz, a place to get something to drink, and a scoreboard. And hopefully, a winning team.
All else is fluff to me, but that's just me. I realize there are others who seem to require more.

 

[bobongo]

One would hope that a school that teaches physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, and has classes on audio engineering could have a good sound and PA system. However, that has been an issue for many years now.

From where I sit, the PA system could be immediately improved by simply turning the volume down about eight notches. And can the canned muzak so I can hear the band. But that's just me.

 

[Vespidae]

One would hope that a school that teaches physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, and has classes on audio engineering could have a good sound and PA system. However, that has been an issue for many years now.

It's the cobbler's children that have no shoes.